Steve Long

Yes, Nicholas, we're still taking applicants, so please send in your info and I'll get you on the list.

That's up to the GM. Personally I'd probably disallow it on the grounds of silliness, but to each GM his own.

See p. 36 of The Ultimate Metamorph for some examples (in 5E terms, easily enough translated to 6E). Beyond that -- you can do the calculations as well as I can.

Sure is! You can find the Nook link at http://www.stevenslong.com/fiction/

Technically speaking, hovering in place still constitutes “movement” and the use of a Movement Power, so it should require a Half Phase in each Phase, even if the character isn’t actually moving any physical distance. However, in this case I think most GMs (including myself) would say, “Technicalities be damned.” Common sense and dramatic sense tell us that it works just fine to let a character hover as a Zero Phase Action (or even Action that takes no time, if the GM’s really charitable). It’s not going to break the game to let a character “stand around in mid-air” just like other characters stand around on the ground.

The rules as written are correct. Aside from what's written in the book, I'd rather let each GM define what constitutes a "single attack."

My second short story, "The Two Fires," is now available in Kindle format! It's in Thunder On The Battlefield, a two-volume anthology of original Swords and Sorcery short stories from Seventh Star Press. It's in Volume 2, "Sorcery." For those of you who prefer the dead tree edition, it'll be available mid-month. I'll keep you posted. Please check it out and let me know what you think! And of course, should you feel inclined to write a glowing review, praising the quality of my prose and the richness of my protagonist, go right ahead. http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Battle...he+battlefield

My second short story, "The Two Fires," is now available in Kindle format! It's in Thunder On The Battlefield, a two-volume anthology of original Swords and Sorcery short stories from Seventh Star Press. It's in Volume 2, "Sorcery." For those of you who prefer the dead tree edition, it'll be available mid-month. I'll keep you posted. Please check it out and let me know what you think! And of course, should you feel inclined to write a glowing review, praising the quality of my prose and the richness of my protagonist, go right ahead. http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Battle...he+battlefield

Reality -- yes, I think that'd be OK. Go ahead and apply if you like. Amorcka -- yes we are. I'm going to send the final list to bluesguy before I leave for GenCon, so you still have a couple days to send in an application.

See 6E2 140-41 for rules on falling, including falling distance per Segment.

What you're overlooking is that Limitations aren't subtracted from Advantages and then applied as one number. First you apply the full total of Advantages, giving you an Active Point cost. Then you apply the full total of Limitations, giving you a Real Cost. The example you're citing is correct.

Generally speaking I'd leave this to the GM, since reasonable minds may differ on how they want to handle this based on the type of campaign, campaign standards, special effects, and other considerations. If I absolutely had to declare a default rule, or if I were ruling for my own personal campaign, I would generally rule that since the Passing Strike went first, it was executed in full before the other character got to act, so the Passing Striker is now far away from him and he'll have to use a Ranged attack of some sort if he wants to hit him. However, I might change my mind depending on how the Target declared his Held Action. If all he said was, "I'm Holding my Action," with no specifics, the ruling just stated would stand. If he'd specifically stated, "I'm Holding my Action to make a HTH Combat attack against Passing Striker as soon as he's close enough," then I would be more inclined to let him try to slug Passing Striker as he runs past.

In the case of a character using a single Grab to Grab multiple limbs, as discussed on HSMA 98 that’s either multiple uses of a single Grab over several Phases and involving multiple Attack Rolls, or it’s a Multiple Attack with Grab to get more than the standard number of limbs. In either case, the standard (and easiest) way for the GM to resolve the issue of breaking out is to consider all the limbs to be Grabbed by “one Grab,” requiring one successful roll to break out of. GMs who want more complication are welcome to treat each limb separately, but I think that’s more detail than most of us want in our games. In the case of a single character using two distinct Grab-based Maneuvers on a single target, how to handle that is up to the GM. Choices are: use the highest of the Maneuvers’ STR ratings; average the Maneuvers’ STR ratings; or treat each Grab as a separate thing to break out of, as discussed above. Personally I’d probably use the second method, but in the case of Grabs that have different related effects (such as your Martial Grab + Choke Hold example), I might prefer the individual method. YMMV and all that.

1. That's up to the GM, but usually the answer is no. Typically No Range Darkness would work as you describe automatically, but the GM could choose to let the "darkness field" move with the character instead (or he might require the character to pay for this, in the full 6E rules). 2. Again, that's up to the GM, since how often that condition occurs depends on the nature of his campaign setting. In published books the Limitation "Only In Darkness/Shadow" for Teleportation is typically given a value of -1/4 (especially when the character has a Darkness power that lets him create his own areas into which he can Teleport). It might increase to -1/2 if the character can't do that and the GM doesn't believe he'll encounter that circumstance very often.

Wanted to "bump" this and let everyone know we're looking for a few more playtesters. HCM has already been through some early beta testing, so it's in fairly polished shape relatively speaking; we're not asking anyone to tinker around with brand-new software. If you'd like to take part in the playtesting we'd love to have you on board.

The potential Range of a Sense is technically unlimited (which models some real-world situations well). However, as noted on 6E2 11, the Range Modifer applies to PER Rolls. This effectively places a limit on the Range over which a Sense can work. Even allowing for the standard rule that a roll of 3 always succeeds, most GMs are going to apply common sense to situations involving long-distance PER Rolls and simply declare that perception is impossible beyond a certain point. STR does not add to Blast, even if the Blast is defined as Physical. If you want a non-Ranged attack to which STR adds, use Hand-To-Hand Attack.

Howdy Herophiles! Hero Games is looking for playtesters for a new piece of fan-developed software we're working on. It's called Hero Combat Manager and is designed to help GMs who use computers at the gaming table manage their HERO System combats more quickly and easily. Naturally we want HCM to work as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and that's where you come in. We'd like to recruit some playtesters (probably a couple dozen or so) to help us put the current iteration of HCM through its paces. Here's what you need to be involved: --a PC or Mac you use at the gaming table --you have to actually use HCM to run games. We don't want anyone who just plays around with it on his own and makes comments; we want reports based on actual use during games so we can "stress test" HCM in the actual conditions in which it's intended to be used --you meet the technical qualifications set forth below (including that you have and use Hero Designer) --a positive attitude and willingness to be constructively critical. You have to be willing to post descriptions (possibly detailed ones) of how HCM works for you during games, not only what you don't like/think needs to be improved, but what's functioning well. Once we get a list of playtesters, we'll set up a special message forum here that only they can access, so they can discuss HCM easily. The creator, and of course Hero Games folx, will also be involved. (I'll probably take point on this, since Jason's more than a little bit swamped with GenCon prep and related matters.) If you're interested in being involved, please send me a Private Message here on the boards with the title "HCM Playtesting." Please include the following in the message: --your name --the e-mail address you'd like us to use to send you the program and whatnot --basic specs on your computer (e.g., what type of Windows or Mac OS you use, anything else you think it's important for us to know) Thanx! Technical qualifications: Hero Combat Manager requires Java 1.6.x or greater installed on the computer that will be running Hero Combat Manager. Hero Combat Manager has been tested extensively using Java 1.6.0_37 and Java 1.7.1 on Windows 7 computers. It has been tested on Macintosh running the current operating system and Java 1.7.1. A current version of Hero Designer is required to use Hero Combat Manager. Hero Combat Manager uses Combat Record files which are exported by Hero Designer.

Ordinarily a character creating a Gate wouldn't be required to make an Attack Roll to "place" the Gate in the proper location, since a Gate usually isn't created in combat and that sort of precision is irrelevant. However, in some situations the GM may require this, in which case normal rules for targeting an Area apply. Whether an Attack Roll is involved or not, a Gate does not automatically affect people within its Area. A Gate is bought with Usable By Other or Usable Simultaneously, not Usable As Attack. Therefore it cannot affect people involuntarily; they have to want to use it. Whether a Gate can be placed horizontally (for example above someone, or on the ground beneath people's feet) is up to the GM.

That's up to the GM. For example, personally I would consider "Magic" an acceptable definition for some campaigns (e.g., a Superheroes game, where lots of forms of Desolidification are possible), but probably not for Fantasy (where virtually all forms of Desolidification are probably defined as "Magic" in some form).

See 6E1 183 and 184.

Not precisely Pulp, but pretty much close enough: Please check it out and support the project! It's not listed up there yet, but I'm going to be writing one of the stretch goal adventures. It's a great scenario that's easily adaptable to Pulp Hero, so I'd really like to write it.

Before.

You're certainly within your rights as GM to interpret things that way. We can all sort of guess what happens when you're blinded, because we've all been in situations where we couldn't see, but few (if any) of us have experienced a situation where we lost all sense of touch, so it's hard to know for certain what the effects would be. That's why we have GMs.

If a character Aids a continuing-effect Mental Power, the possibility exists that a character may activate/use that Mental Power while the Aid is in effect, then pay END to maintain it so that it lasts beyond the point at which the Aid’s effect partly or fully fades. If that happens, subtract the amount of points that fade from the Aid from the Mental Power’s Effect Roll. If doing so changes the level of effect the Mental Power can establish, the Mental Power’s effect fails, freeing the target from the effect. Alternately, the GM may allow the character to reroll the Mental Power’s Effect Roll to see if he can “hold on” to the effect despite the loss of power.

Since this is a "how to" and not a rules question, I've moved it to the Discussion board, where anyone who wants to can offer an idea or suggestion.